The Visit
by Chadini
Summary: Sara meets Natalie, again. Spoilers for Season 9. Prompt for this was Pancakes from GeekFiction. Thanks to princessklutz04 for the beta.


The day she had been running from had finally arrived. Sara was going to see Natalie face to face for the first time since she was left in the desert. With Natalie being declared mentally incompetent to stand trial, there was no grand courtroom drama. There was no opportunity to describe the true damage once and for all that she caused.

As Sara and Brass walked down the hallway, metal doors clanging in their wake, her fight with Grissom invaded her mind. He desperately wanted to be here to protect her, but he couldn't understand that she was trying to do the same thing for him. She had to stand up and do this on her own, like the little girl confronting the monster under the bed. She felt guilty and weak dragging Grissom through the aftereffects of her experience. On a regular basis she was waking him up in the middle of the night, thrashing through her nightmares. She forced him to walk dozens of extra blocks because she still won't go into a parking garage.

Dr. Krachler warned her that she wouldn't be able to get any sort of answers or reactions out of Natalie, that she may as well be talking to a life-sized doll.

Brass had gone to a great deal of trouble to set up the meeting. Looking at the look in Sara's eyes as they stood in front of the interview room, he knew this was something that she needed to do to move on. Even though he considered this to be a bad idea, he was willing to do whatever it took to get her back to normal, whatever that means.

Standing behind Sara, Brass protectively put his hand on her shoulder, "You ready to do this kiddo?" Feeling her tense, otherwise frozen in front of the door, he continued, "You don't have to do this you know. Odds are that she can't even hear you. Whatever you are looking for, may not be here."

"Jim…I have to, " Sara said, more to convince herself than her old friend. "If I don't…"

"It's ok, " Brass said holding his hand up, trying to stop both her sentence and her tears that were starting to fall. "Let's get this over with," he said as he nodded to the guard. The guarded unlocked the door, and stepped in with Brass and Sara following.

Sara sat down on a cold metal chair, as she had done thousands of times before throughout her career. She ran her fingers along the smooth cold edge of the table, wondering briefly how much effort would be required to flip it and crush Natalie underneath it.

Brass stood, arms folded in tough guy cop fashion, in the corner. He wanted to give Sara her space but in no way was he going to leave her alone with a psychopath, catatonic or not.

Sara moved on to do something more constructive with her time while they waited for Natalie to be brought down. In an effort to keep her mind busy and focused, she began counting all of the holes in the acoustic ceiling tile, all the while wondering how many pencils you could toss up their before the whole thing came crashing down on your head.

Stepping forward towards Sara, Brass could see her mind spinning. "What do you think about pancakes?" he asked.

The question brought a small smile to Sara's lips, she loved Brass for what he was trying to do, and so she decided to play along. "Do you mean in general, or do you have some in particular you would like to discuss?" she countered, relieved to take a little break.

Brass smiled as well, "Well, in general I suppose. I was thinking maybe would could go out for breakfast after this."

"I would like that, and maybe…" Sara trailed off as she heard the other door open and saw Natalie in the doorway. She looked quickly back at Brass, for fleeting instant regretting her decision to be here, for not bringing Grissom, for coming back to Las Vegas.

Natalie shuffled in the room, only after being pushed by one of the guards, her movements restricted by a waist chain and leg irons. Her chains clanked as she made her way to the chair. One of the guards ordered her to sit down but she seemed completely oblivious to her surroundings. The second guard grabbed her by the shoulders and roughly shoved her down in the seat. If it had been another time, another criminal, Sara would have admonished him for his forceful treatment. But not now.

Natalie rocked back and forth, listening to some tune, some voice in her head as the guards secured her chains to the floor. After giving them a final tug, the guards stepped away, standing behind Natalie, ready for anything. It didn't take very long for every officer in the state to learn about what Natalie did. Many thought that this quiet shuffling little mouse act was just that, an act. It was difficult to she the broken girl in front of them as a calculating serial killer.

Sara stared at Natalie. She was much smaller than she remembered. She looked frail, helpless.

"Guys, why don't you give us a minute," Brass said as he walked closer to them.

"But sir…" one of the guards began, "she is…"

"I know exactly who she is," Brass said, cutting him off. "Look, I'll be here and you guys will be right on the other side. In fact you can come back in five minutes."

The guard looked at Natalie and then to Sara, neither of which had spoken. "Five minutes," he repeated, looking down at his watch.

It wasn't until the guards had left the room that Sara had the courage to speak.

"Natalie," Sara began in her most professional voice, hoping it wouldn't crack.

Natalie didn't respond, only continuing to rock slowly in her seat.

"Natalie? Do you remember me?" Sara asked, in a voice much louder than she had intended.

Sara was startled when Natalie looked up from the faraway point that she had been staring though. Looking at Sara, she began to mumble.

**_ "Oh, sad was the day for the little bisque doll, _**

**_ for they cut all her stitches away,"_**

"Natalie!" Sara began to feel the anger and rage of the night in the desert build in her body. Along with her promises to God, Sara also promised that she would find out why Natalie abducted and that she would be brought to justice in whatever manner worked. "Remember me? You left me in the desert to die under a crushed Mustang."

**"_and found the seat of the terrible ache; _**

**_ T'was a delicate task..."_**

Brass stepped forward, ready to pull Sara back.

Natalie began to sing a little louder,

_ **"For none of the doctors had ever before **_

**_ performed on a dolly's inside."_**

Sara was pushing her, trying to get her to break the act. "You know what I am talking about don't you? You killed people and created little miniature crime scenes."

**_ "They tried to re-stuff her but didn't know how, _**

**_ and this was her wail as she died..."_**

With an eerie calmness, Sara matter-of-factly said, "Ernie Dell killed himself because of you."

_ **"I've got a pain in my sawdust.**_

**_ That's what's the matter with me."_**

"That's right Natalie, you blamed Gil Grissom, but it was really all your fault."

"Sara," Brass said in a fatherly tone.

**"_Something is wrong with my little inside. _**

**_ I'm just as sick as can be."_**

"No!" Sara pushed him away and stood up, towering over Natalie, who was clearly agitated.

**"_Don't let me faint. Someone get me a fan. _**

**_ Someone please run for the medicine man."_**

"You tried to kill me, but you failed. Your perfect little plan was a failure. Your perfect little planned scene was wrong. All of that effort for nothing. And now? Now you are alone – again." Sara stood up and walked to the door.

**"_Everyone hurry as fast as you can, _**

"Jim let's go," Sara said.

Brass waved at the guards through the window and they came rushing in, noticing a change in the demeanor of the room.

**"It's ok guys, we're done here."**

As they walked out the door and into the sanity of the hallway, they could hear Natalie screaming,

**"_'cause I've got a pain in my sawdust."_**

As they started down the hall to freedom and breakfast, Sara wondered what the next monster would look like.


End file.
